Kukla's Korner Hockey

Before I went to watch Alex Ovechkin play poker this afternoon (more on that later) I caught up with GM George McPhee and asked him about Michael Nylander’s status with the Caps for next season.

McPhee stopped short of dismissing recent reports that the veteran center is attempting to negotiate a deal to join a KHL team, but he did say that he believes it’s unlikely Nylander will end up in Russia next season.

“If he wants to go he can, if it’s a mutual arrangement,” McPhee said of Nylander, who fell out of favor with Coach Bruce Boudreau last season and hardly played in the postseason. “There’s nothing to stop a player if he’s agreeable and the club is agreeable. What’s going to stop him? If he agrees and they agree, we assign him” to the KHL….

Asked if he expects Nylander to play in Russia, McPhee said: “Probably not.”

I also asked McPhee about a few other issues facing the Caps, namely the status of pending UFAs Sergei Fedorov, Donald Brashear and the assistant coaching vacancy. Here’s what he told me: